The health industry, as it relates to treating patients, has an ever-increasing concern and duty to minimize the risk of the spread of diseases. Treatments that involve either a person""s bodily fluids, such as saliva or those that come in contact with potential blood-borne pathogens, create an ever-constant threat of cross-contamination. The use of a disposable prophy angle by the dental profession to aid in proper tooth care and oral hygiene has helped reduce such risks.
While these disposable prophy angles have been used extensively in the past, they do have some drawbacks. First of all, the dentist is typically required to utilize a separate container of prophylaxis paste and to refill the prophy cup several times during a typical cleaning procedure. This refilling of the prophy cup requires the dentist to remove the instrument from the patient""s mouth and refill the cup. This repeated removal of the instrument increases the risk of a transfer of a patient""s saliva, food debris, or plaque and potential associated blood-borne pathogens.
Attempts have been made in the past to provide a paste delivery system which is integral to the prophy angle. Examples are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,353 issued to Pierce et al. for PROPHY ANGLES WITH DENTIFRICE DISPENSING SYSTEMS, issued on Feb. 16, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,901 issued to Roth et al. for a DISPOSABLE ADJUSTABLE FLOW PROPHY ANGLE, issued on Dec. 2, 1997; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,083, issued to Leslie et al. for a DENTAL INSTRUMENT issued on Aug. 31, 1976, all of which patents are incorporated herein in their entirety by these references. These prophy angles used various approaches, including an auger to move paste from a reservoir to the cup. Some of these designs also included flow regulation by tying the flow rate to the rotation rate of the cup and the auger, and others used an externally adjusted knob. These devices each have shortcomings.
Tying the dentifrice flow rate to cup rotation rate is most often undesirable because the need for paste is not always proportional to the rotation rate or consistent with the relative speed at which each practitioner utilizes the prophy angle. For example, some practitioners work with faster rotation rates than others. In such situations, the paste may run out before the prophylaxis is completed. This becomes costly and inefficient.
The manually adjusted flow control knob of the Roth design requires the dentist to remove the instrument from the patient""s mouth and then manually adjust the knob. Then the device is reinserted into the patient""s mouth. This removal and reinsertion is time consuming, and it, too, increases the risk of cross-contamination.
Consequently, there exists a need for improved methods and systems for dispensing prophylaxis paste in a sanitary and efficient manner.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for dispensing prophylaxis medium in a sanitary and efficient manner.
It is a feature of the present invention to utilize a pressure sensitive flow valve coupled to a prophy cup.
It is another feature of the present invention to include a constant pressure medium provisioning assembly.
It is an advantage of the present invention to achieve improved efficiency in dispensing medium during dental procedures.
The present invention is an apparatus and method for dispensing prophylaxis medium, which is designed to satisfy the aforementioned needs, provide the previously stated objects, include the above-listed features, and achieve the already articulated advantages. The present invention is carried out in a xe2x80x9ccontamination-lessxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cwasted effort-lessxe2x80x9d manner in a sense that the potential for cross-contamination and the extra effort associated with removing the prophy angle from the patient""s mouth and then reinserting it have been greatly reduced.
Accordingly, the present invention is a system and method including a prophy angle with a pressure sensitive flow valve, which is actuated by engaging the tooth with the prophy cup and increasing the pressure therebetween and thereby increasing the flow rate of medium into the prophy cup.